DII East Stroudsburg Downs DIII No. 1 Springfield 3-0

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The top-ranked Springfield College men's volleyball team lost its third-straight match on Friday evening to East Stroudsburg in three games in a non-conference matchup. The Warriors bested the Pride by the game scores, 30-27, 30-22, 34-22.

Springfield now stands at 4-3 on the season while East Stroudsburg picks up its first win of the year and improves to 1-3. The loss also snaps the Pride's 11-match home winning streak.

The story of the match proved to be Springfield's errors as it committed 29 attack errors and 22 service errors in just three games. For the match, Springfield hit just .113 as a team while the Warriors posted a .205 attack percentage.

In the opening frame, the Pride owned a 15-9 lead after Eric Shoemaker and Cal Palumbo teammed up for a block. However, the Warriors stormed back with a 10-3 run to take a 19-18 lead after Michael Semeraro hammered home a kill for the visitors. ESU extended it's lead in the opening frame by as many as four, yet the Pride were able to cut the lead to one, 28-27, after Any Sipe and Mark Ribeiro notched the Pride's fifth block of the game. The Warriors went on to take the first game, 30-28, as Springfield committed back-to-back attack errors to end the set. Springfield hit -.029 in the first game, registering just nine kills. SC was able to stay in the first game with solid blocking a tough serving, including two aces from Shoemaker.

Springfield struggled to gain any momentum in the second game as the home squad found themselves down five, 15-10, after a Levi Kauffman kill. ESU hit .320 in the frame and led by as many as eight en route to the two-game advantage, winning 30-22. Palumbo was the lone bright spot for Springfield in the game as he connected for five kills on just six swings.

The Pride appeared poised to force a fourth-game as it owned a 27-20 lead after a Semeraro attack error. Once again, the Warriors battled back, taking advantage of Springfield errors, to knot the game at 29 all. Springfield had a pair of match points at 30-29 and 32-31 but was unable to win the third game. A Semeraro kill and a solo block from Chris Holden capped off East Stroudsburg impressive comeback. The Pride finished with nine service errors in the final third game.

Sipe had an impressive performance as he notched nine kills, hitting .438, while adding seven blocks. Ribeiro finished with a team-best 12 kills, while Shoemaker handed out 39 assists to go along with three blocks, three digs, and two aces in the loss.

Holden registered a match-high 14 kills, hitting at a .360 clip, while Kauffman finished with 29 assists and five digs. R.J. Roth tallied a match-best 10 digs on the defensive end, while Dante McCoy tacked on six kills, hitting .417, and five blocks. Springfield held the Warriors kill leader, Jon Daley, to just four kills and a -.105 hitting percentage.

Springfield returns to action on Saturday evening as it hosts the top-ranked team in Division I and reigning national champion, Penn State, at 7:00 pm.